A Peek into Indian Students in U.S. and Wishing for Their Great Future

If unlawful migration is the reality of the times across the borders, there is another group of legal arrivals who come to seek education in U.S. I am talking about the international student group who comes to U.S. with immense hope and expectations from the top nation and educating themselves in worthy institutions. I already mentioned about the students in U.S. in an earlier post and I will talk about the same group in this post. Before that let me tell you something personal – I have been staying with this group for the last 22 months or nearly 2 years and they have become my home away from home. If I could set the ball rolling in U.S. and if I could achieve anything from my stay in U.S., there is a significant part played by these students or my extended family at the crucial stage of my life. I wasn’t able to leave them, nor did they attempt to stay away from me. This strong bond withstood the test of time for 20 crucial months which could have become a country of strangers otherwise, forming an isolated world. It is the family which lives along with you that provides your means. I lived with quite a number of this extended family all along who must have driven me and made the story in this foreign land as it happened. 

Memories and memory are very important. We can leave the good memories made but look at my mind way back in November 2022, after 7 months in U.S. The sentences from my blog post way back then speak of the moment at that time - “Whenever I travelled to U.S., I found myself staying with students who are pursuing their higher education. In a way, they are a great bunch of individuals to live with. If my family in the home nation drive me in everything and enable to reach this far, it is this family away from the family in U.S. that drives me further all along. In these past 7 months, these individuals have complemented me tremendously and I strived to pay back equally. I cannot remember how many times these youngsters have crossed all the safe lines to set the giant wheel in motion. Together, we produced outstanding outcomes, and I cannot perceive the same if I stayed in any other setting.”   

I quoted this because it is very important to refresh memory and keep track of things happening all along. I felt this way in just 7 months, what about now after 22 months in similar setting and mode of operation. I will leave it for anyone to comprehend. Of particular significance is I mentioned about ‘family away from family’, ‘producing outstanding outcomes’, ‘setting the giant wheel in motion’, ‘pay back equally’. It must be outstanding outcomes to the power of infinity and setting the giant wheel in motion for as long as anyone can, now. My biggest apprehension, worry and priority which I also mentioned back then is “I cannot remember how many times these youngsters have crossed all the safe lines to set the giant wheel in motion.” This mirrors what I felt back then after looking at the slight perils from day-to-day life. ‘Crossing all safe lines’ is a big escalation and providing safety should be the top priority. It might not be true in real sense, but what I felt back then has been laid out. After 22 months, the perils must have been compounded. Providing a safe working environment must be a collective objective of everyone and we should cease to work when it is compromised. These big words, tall achievements and outstanding outcomes have so much pain, loss and struggle behind the scenes and hope everyone operates safely to render these scaled-up versions. 

In this light, when a group feels that a person should be faring well and live good even at the expense of something else, I feel it nauseating. No matter who, everyone should make their own lives top priority and live for their own self. No one is more important than the personal self. I believe the world is positioned this way to give everything for something phenomenal going around. I also believe the phenomenon itself doesn’t approve of this and it believes in antithesis – everyone should mind their own minor business, their own self than investing in something major. Our lives should be crossed in such a way that everyone wins in individual lives and a collective story is made out of everyone winning. 

For everyone to win, it is paramount that the students who come to U.S. with tremendous hopes win in their lives. The U.S. should become a stepping stone for their glorious future. I will strive for anything to repay my gratitude to this group. More than gratitude, I feel all their needs are also met with this stay in harmony. One should never be a receiver alone without giving back in abundance to meet the needs of others. One good thing to share is the bunch of students with whom I have been staying from day 1 have all graduated but are waiting anxiously for their jobs. This graduation is a big achievement for me since I never graduated even though I came as a student to U.S. in the past. In this sense, for spending tens of lakhs of rupees, working hard and becoming advanced degree holders; these students are in a higher plane than me. Being a job holder, I wish these graduates are all gainfully employed to take the next step in their lives after being on a wild adventure with me for so long. 

A heavy stir at a point will have cascading effects at a much larger spectrum. This should be true in case of students who come to U.S. henceforth. With the work that has been done in the recent past, the student lives should become easy and their future rosy in U.S. Along with undocumented migration, the student migration is also real as they tend to decide based on the evolving situation of the times. This was projected in the high trends of the past few years. The U.S. remains the top choice for students seeking higher education abroad. The country hosted more than a million international college students during the 2022-2023 academic year. The numbers mark an almost 12% jump from the previous year, and the fastest growth rate in more than 40 years. New international student enrollment surged by 14% in 2022-2023, on top of the 80% increase the prior year, per the 2023 report. The new international student enrollment of 298,523 exceeded the pre-pandemic level of 268,000 in the 2019-2020 academic year and nearly reached the record high of 300,743 enrollments in the 2015-2016 academic year. This is due to the strong political and technological winds blowing in the country, favoring the student community’s decision to make a venture into the dreamland. 

We have also witnessed record number of students from India in the past year. New international students continue to flock to colleges and universities in every U.S. state and territory, with 48 states reporting a jump in international students. The 2022-2023 academic year saw a 35% increase in students from India, reaching 268,923. Worldwide, more international students are choosing the U.S. for higher education, especially learners from India and sub-Saharan Africa. Africa has seen thousands of youngsters coming to U.S. for higher education, which indicates changing landscape in the dark continent, increased financial capabilities or encouragement for pursuing education from a top nation. The State Department issued more than 40,000 student visas to African students in fiscal year 2023, the most in the past decade. The dark continent is shining bright. 

More than million international students have arrived in the nation and U.S. must be a great nation to accommodate all of them with grace. It should be our collective endeavor for a smooth transition and make their future bright. With my own encounter with this group for so long since 2015, it is imperative that these students should get some job or other and make great lives while in U.S. Make no mistake, these international students and particularly from India are the drivers of this nation. Many argue the locals are denied jobs in favour of foreign nationals. But they support the economy and generate jobs. According to data, the more than one million international students who studied at U.S. colleges and universities from 2018 to 2019 contributed about $41 billion to the economy. It was also found that for every seven international students, there were three jobs created in the U.S. for a total of 458,290 jobs. In addition, an increase in foreign STEM workers’ wages by 1% leads to an increase in native workers’ wages by 7 to 8%. So, these groups of students and migrants are great levers and avenues through which the nation can be catalyzed, its needs met and the nation advanced. It is our minimum responsibility to see that these learners and seekers are given everything they aspire for and paid for their immense contribution. 

To conclude, both at personal level and at much wider range, the contribution by these motivated international students, and especially from India to U.S. is immense. Just like the undocumented migrants, these students from abroad are a big boon to this nation. Every guest is a god coming to bless the land and the topmost priority is their safety and good future.